SpiceJet shares crash after reduction in flight ops

New Delhi, July 28: Shares of SpiceJet tanked nearly 10 per cent in morning trade on Thursday, after the company was asked by aviation regulator DGCA to curtail its services by half for eight weeks.

The stock tanked 9.66 per cent to its 52-week low of ₹ 34.60 on the BSE.

The slump in the SpiceJet counter assumes significance as the 30-share BSE benchmark was trading 733.21 points or 1.31 per cent higher at 56,549.53.

Aviation regulator DGCA on Wednesday ordered SpiceJet to operate a maximum of 50 per cent of its flights for eight weeks after several of its planes reported technical malfunction recently, news agency PTI reported.

During these eight weeks, the budget carrier will be subjected to "enhanced surveillance" by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

On Thursday, SpiceJet said it is confident of scaling up its operations and addressing concerns of the DGCA.

On Wednesday, the airline had said that there will be no flight cancellations because of the regulator's order as it is already operating limited services "due to the current lean travel season".

"In view of the findings of various spot checks, inspections and the reply to the show cause notice submitted by SpiceJet, for the continued sustenance of safe and reliable transport service, the number of departures of SpiceJet is hereby restricted to 50 per cent of the number of departures approved under summer schedule 2022 for a period of eight weeks," the aviation regulator's order on Wednesday said.